Things are looking Rozsy-er

We'll admit, after Daniel Briere scored that late third-period goal, we wondered how much longer Henrik and the Rangers could hang on. But they hung on long enough, and thanks to a goalpost that was in the right place at the right time in the first OT, Michal Rozsival was able to rocket a shot through in the second OT and make this into a series.

Indeed, yesterday was playoff hockey at its finest. Speed, power, flashy moves, great goaltending... everything about the game was great. Except for the refereeing, of course. How many power plays did the Sabres have compared to the Rangers? (Answer: Sabres, 9; Rangers, 5). And how many penalties weren't called on Buffalo that should have been? (Answer: More than a few). And was that Brendan Shanahan cross-checking penalty that led to Briere's goal really a penalty? (Answer: Questionable at best). And how can they overrule Karel Rachunek's would-be goal when the evidence was mostly inconclusive? Yes, it went in off of his skate, but it didn't look intentional. Even The Buffalo News says the Sabres "... failed to capitalize on a slew of favorable second-period calls."

Tom Renney chose to translate the calls into an "Us against the world" mantra. Joe McDonald quotes the head coach, "We are not going to be given anything because we are the New York Rangers, people just love to hate us. We are just a team that identifies with success and if it takes five or six periods we felt we were going to get it, because we were destined to do it."

Despite facing all of the officiating hurdles, the Rangers played yet another solid game. Henrik Lunqvist was stellar (38 saves), the penalty killing was incredible (they killed 8 of 9 penalties), and the offense got enough pressure (though they admittedly didn't convert enough of their chances). The victory, Rozsival's overall play, and his goal in particular, gave this team new hope.

Even though he was still fighting an injury, Rozsival logged the most ice time of any Ranger (38:16, nearly five minutes more than anyone else), and steadied the ship throughout the matchup, as he has throughout this series. The Buffalo News calls Rozsival "an irrepressible force", a "workhorse", and the team's "defensive rock." Shanahan called him "a warrior." Regarding his goal, Rozsival told Dan Rosen, "This has to be the biggest goal of my career. It can't get any better, scoring the game-winning goal in overtime." Hey, remember when Rangers fans (we gleefully boast that we were not in this group) didn't want to re-sign Rozsival?